


Trial by Fire (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

by NicoleCKey



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Dragons, F/M, Female Antagonist, HTTYD - Freeform, Inspired by How to Train Your Dragon, Major Original Character(s), Male Antagonist, Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Valkyries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 07:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2572679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicoleCKey/pseuds/NicoleCKey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragons are stolen from Dragon Island and Hiccup is determined to get them back, despite his fathers warnings. The mission leads him into the heart of the savage north where he encounters dragon trappers, rebel dragon riders, harsh weather, and strange dragons.<br/>After joining a small group of dragon riding radicals, Hiccup hopes to rescue their dragons. Will he be able to return to Berk with their stolen dragons or will his team continue to fall apart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trial by Fire (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [My twin sister](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=My+twin+sister).



Chapter One: Sowing Dragon’s Teeth

The sun filtered through the thinning clouds above a small village nestled in the arms the coast line. It rested along the edge of the sea, a quaint barrier between woodland and ocean. It was late enough in the afternoon that any soul in the town would be awake and enjoying the glimmer of sunlight that promised more days of warm weather.  
This is Berk.  
Fast flying dragons zipped through the air above the small village, looking nothing more like blurs of green, blue, brown, black, and red. In a tight formation, they cleverly wove through the sea stacks off the shore. Some were a bit shaky on the turns, but they held firm.  
“Keep up, Fishlegs!” The lead viking on the black dragon shouted back to a rather plump viking on a struggling slow dragon.  
It’s far enough south to get a taste of warmth, but just enough north to know it will never stay.  
Completing a complicated maneuver that involved switching the position of the stirrups numerous times, the Night Fury that led the group of five spun impressively in the air over the water leaving a fountain of sea spray in its wake. The rider breathed deeply of the salty sea air.  
“Impressive.” The blonde viking on a blue Nadder complimented as she wiped water off her face and rung out her damp braid. “That is if you wanted to get me soaked.”  
My home and now home to the dragons.  
The village in the distance was getting close enough now that blobs of moving color were sharpening into more defined characters going about their afternoon routines. Some even waved as the dragon’s shadows passed over them. As more sunlight pierced through the cloud cover, it became obvious that there was more going on in Berk than the usual bustle.  
With the third anniversary of the Red Death’s defeat and the return of warmer weather, it seems there’s a lot to celebrate.  
As they maneuvered around the spiraling cliff that Gothi’s house rested upon, the formation got a little more than shaky. It held together where it needed it most, but during a few overlapping tricks, it almost fell apart.  
“Snotlout! Watch your wingspan!” Astrid shouted as Hookfang’s wing nearly unseated her from Stormfly’s saddle.  
Snotlout sneered back at her. “Why don’t you watch how close you’re getting to me? I know you can’t keep your hands off this, but it’s rehearsal. Be professional.”  
Astrid growled. “If I move anymore over, I’ll be making a Fishlegs-shaped impression in the cliff-side!”  
In fact, our holidays are a lot like our summers; very few and far between.  
Tuffnut filled in the window gap behind Astrid and Snotlout on his shared Zippleback. “Now that would be something I’d watch this for.”  
Hiccup looked over his shoulder at the slowly falling apart configuration. “Come on, guys! We’ve been over this drill a hundred times! Let’s make this the first time we actually get through it.”  
And, like our weather, the people have a tendency to be a bit... uncontrollable.  
The next sequence that was supposed to take place was something Astrid herself had come up with and explained at the Academy. A simple enough weaving pattern with all five dragons that, if timed perfectly, could make a spectacular light show with the dragon’s fire breathing.  
So far, they only practiced the sequence without the fire so that when they had the basics under their belts, it would be easier to add the fire in. Or at least, that was their intention.  
At first, it was rough. Wingtips brushed, a few talons missed flesh by inches, and then it leveled out. This almost impossible-looking performance was doing better than Hiccup had hoped and he felt a sense of pride swell up in his chest.  
Hiccup did not have time to regret his hopefulness as Snotlout yelped and broke formation. He yanked on Hookfang’s horns in surprise as something flew past him in a blur and Hookfang responded by extending his wings.  
Stormfly and Astrid were not expecting the Monstrous Nightmare wing barrier in front of them and charged it head on, sending both dragons and riders into a spiral heading straight for the plaza. Stormfly’s tail whipped about as they descended, hitting Fishlegs and Meatlug broadside resulting in a barrel roll into the twins.  
Even though Ruffnut and Tuffnut cheered as they spun out of control, Barf and Belch their dragon tried to steady themselves. Hiccup and Toothless had no time to react as both Fishlegs and the twins hurtled themselves at the Night Fury and rider. Night Fury’s may be known for their speed and lightning-fast reflexes, but with Hiccup in control of the majority of Toothless’s flying it seemed he was not fast enough.  
As the three dragons collapsed on the Great Hall steps, Fishlegs and Meatlug continued to roll dangerously fast until they crashed into the front of a hut near the edge of the market.  
Hiccup gasped for air after Toothless removed the pressure of his enormous dragon bulk off his scrawny frame. The twins started to untie the knot that had become their limbs and dragon’s neck and tail, but they only succeeded in tangling themselves more.  
It did not take long for Astrid and Snotlout to pull themselves out of a cabbage cart and begin arguing. “If you had been looking at where you were going, none of this would have happened!” She accused as Snotlout pulled some cabbage leaves out of his hair.  
“You think I wanted to ruin this so we have to do it all over again?” Snotlout countered as he retrieved his helmet from the sea of green. “It was that stupid orange Terrible Terror! It flew past –“  
“Really?” Astrid interrupted. “A Terrible Terror? You’re going with that excuse? You might as well blame the twins.”  
“I wouldn’t mind.” Tuffnut shrugged as they walked over to the cabbage cart to join in the argument. Really they were just waiting for the perfect excuse to start throwing punches. “I wish I had thought of that. Did you see the chaos?”  
“Yes, Tuffnut.” Hiccup groaned, rubbing his neck where he had landed on it. “In fact, we were all a part of it.”  
“Hiccup, this has gone too far.” Astrid announced, pointing at Snotlout and Hookfang. “Those two keep causing trouble. We would have been done with this exercise hours ago if they hadn’t kept screwing it up out of laziness!”  
“I do admit, some of the other times we messed up, it was because we weren’t focusing.” Snotlout confessed. “But not that time!”  
Fishlegs pulled himself out of the doorway of a house Meatlug and he had barreled into. The vikings inside were furious, but Fishlegs just muttered a quick apology before heading toward the circle of the other riders.  
Hiccup sighed. “I think Snotlout is right. I don’t think he or anyone else wants to continue rehearsing this. So we’ll just have to restart from the spiral up the cliff and hope that there aren’t any more Terror incidents.”  
“You can’t possibly believe that Terrible Terror excuse, really?” Astrid fumed, giving Hiccup a look of enraged disappointment. “He’s been trying to get back at me for putting eggs in his helmet!”  
“That was you?” Snotlout accused, his face burning red as Astrid’s words only fueled his rage. “That’s it! I’m done with this stupid spectacle! Have fun finding someone who can replace me!”  
Tuffnut shrugged. “Gustav.” He suggested off the top of his head.  
“Gustav’s little sister.” Ruffnut teased and the twins high-fived as the red Nightmare and its monstrous rider flew north toward Dragon Island.  
“Great.” Hiccup groaned. “Unless either of you two can actually teach Gustav the last three days of rehearsals in a few hours, we’re going to have to get Snotlout back.”  
Astrid scoffed. “We don’t need him.”  
Hiccup gave her a sidelong look of annoyance. “I don’t know what has gotten into you two, but the spectacle requires five riders! We can’t practice properly without all of us!”  
“And what do you want me to do?” Astrid snapped defensively. “He’s the one who keeps messing us up! We’ll be better without him!”  
“Thor’s hammer!” A loud voice cursed. Hiccup immediately cringed and the other riders froze with fear. “What happened here?”  
The angry vikings who had very little of the front of their house left, pointed at the five riders in the middle of the plaza. Hiccup grinned sheepishly, knowing the punishment was about to be pretty severe. They all looked around at the damaged carts, scattered produce, and the torn banner and soon became very jealous of Snotlout for escaping this fate.  
“We were just practicing for the spectacle and…” Hiccup began as the other riders quickly shrunk into the background or pretended to preoccupy themselves with their dragons to alleviate the punishment off their shoulders.  
“Since when did that include destroying the marketplace?” Stoick boomed, gesturing to the splintered mess and some smoldering piles where some of the startled dragon’s reflexive fires had hit. The large chief shook his head and sighed. “Dragon’s Day is only six days away and we had a deal that…”  
“I haven’t done anything reckless or crazy yet, dad!” Hiccup protested as a worried Toothless walked up beside him and nudged him in the side in an effort to calm him down. His rider rubbed him thoughtfully behind the ears, but continued. “Things just got a little out of hand. We’ll clean it up.”  
“What?” Astrid hissed and the others groaned.  
Astrid was about to make a comment about how Snotlout should be the one to clean up the mess, but her words ended up as a dark muttering while Stoick agreed to the terms. “Alright, but have most of it done before noon tomorrow, and keep out of trouble.”  
Hiccup groaned as his father walked away before he turned and addressed the riders. “Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, I need you guys to stay back and start with repairs.”  
They all collectively moaned and complained. “Where are you going?”  
“Yeah,” Astrid agreed. “What am I doing?”  
“You’re coming with me to go find Snotlout and apologize.” Hiccup explained as he slid onto Toothless’s back. “He’s still part of this group and has to clean up his portion of this mess whether it was on purpose or not.”  
● ● ●  
Hookfang was lounging in a clearing, glad to not be forced into the same maneuvers and exercises for the spectacle again. Instead, he focused more on the smoke coming out of his nostrils and attempting to make it come out in little puffs. He could almost ignore his stocky rider. Almost.  
“I mean, who does she think she is? The only real viking?” Snotlout demanded, having started this intense monologue with Hookfang, but the dragon was soon entertained elsewhere. “I am a Jorgensen! The definition of viking!”  
Hookfang pounded his tail on the ground when Snotlout stopped speaking to make it seem like he was still paying attention. “Exactly! I should hunt down that stupid Terror and prove that I had nothing to do with that incident!”  
On cue Hookfang made an absent-minded growling noise and Snotlout nodded vigorously. “You’re right! I don’t need to prove myself! Astrid is the one at fault!” He concluded and then a sly grin spread on his face. “She’s probably just so intimidated by my obvious strength and… strength that she – “  
Snotlout’s stirring speech was interrupted by a cry from Hookfang. “What did I tell you about interrupting?” He snapped, turning to his dragon that was running in circles trying to claw at something on its back futilely. Snotlout noticed a small orange creature yanking at Hookfang’s scales with its jaw.  
“Hold still!” Snotlout ordered his dragon. Hookfang did so until he noticed that his rider was wielding his sword.  
Instead, Hookfang angrily set his body on fire. The orange dragon detached like a tick and flew straight at Snotlout. The slightly-flaming ball of scales hit Snotlout in the face and it was all Snotlout could do to keep his helmet on. The smoldering dragon rubbed its hot body into Snotlout’s chest.  
Snotlout may not have been the brightest dragon rider on Berk, but he knew that this was not a Terrible Terror. Its body was more like that of a rabbit, with its stunted fore legs and flat-footed back feet. Not to mention it also had two curved horns and smoother – almost like hide – scales.  
“You!” He screamed when he recalled that it was the same dragon that had caused him to ruin the spectacle. The dragon, just as startled as the rider, spat out the red dragon scale it had wrenched from Hookfang’s back and tried to fly away.  
Snotlout was quicker than that and was able to grab the dragon around its middle. “Oh no you don’t!” He hollered as the mysterious dragon struggle against its grasp. Of course, Snotlout was not the brightest and forgot that most dragons had the ability to breathe fire.  
This dragon did not, but it still managed to spew hot steam on his hands. Instinctively, Snotlout released the dragon. This enraged Snotlout more and he tried to snatch the little dragon out of the sky. It was fast like a dragonfly with its little wings was able to avoid Snotlout’s pathetic attempts. However, the dragon had forgotten about Hookfang.  
Hookfang, annoyed and angry from having a scale removed, managed to knock the dragon out of the sky with its wing and pinned the dragon under one of its back claw.  
“What are you doing?” A voice asked, proceeding the sounds of large wings beating fast for a steady landing. Snotlout, out of breath and feeling rather good about himself after the capture of the elusive dragon, proudly stuck out his chest and gestured to Hookfang’s claw.  
“Proving… my… point…” Snotlout panted. Both Astrid and Hiccup were confused when they looked at the fuming Hookfang that was glaring at his back left claw until they saw two pairs of small orange claws poking out in a feeble attempt to break free.  
Hiccup bent down next to it. “Snotlout, let it out! You’re frightening it!”  
“That’s the way it should be!” He shouted, rubbing his hands still hot from the steam on his tunic. “That’s the dragon responsible for this morning! I’d bet my sword on it.”  
Hiccup glared at Snotlout until he finaly muttered, ‘fine’. Hookfang was harder to persuade, but eventually gave up on the little dragon and released its hold on it. Hiccup managed to catch the foreign dragon when it tried to make an escape and it quickly tired of struggling.  
“What is it?” Astrid asked, getting closer to examine the dragon now that it had calmed down.  
Snotlout scoffed. “A dragon, duh.” And then he chuckled to himself. “And she thinks she’s so smart.”  
“It’s no dragon I’ve ever seen before.” Hiccup agreed with Astrid. “I don’t think it’s even mentioned in the Bork papers.”  
“If only Fishlegs were here.” Astrid teased.  
Snotlout looked curiously at the other two dragon riders fawning over the new dragon. “Wait, why are you two here? Where are the others?” He asked and immediately looked behind him. It would be just like the twins to try to scare him when his guard was down. As for Fishlegs, he was probably just super slow as usual.  
“They’re back on Berk cleaning up the mess you caused!” Astrid accused.  
The stocky viking’s face turned red and he threw his hands in the direction of the dragon. “Is this not proof enough for you that I wasn’t lying?”  
Astrid replied with a suspicious cocked eyebrow that seemed to list off all the times before that Snotlout simply made excuses for their own sake. Snotlout held his ground on the argument as Hiccup pried the orange dragon out from beneath Hookfang’s claw.  
The Monstrous Nightmare was not happy when Hiccup forced him to release his prisoner, but the dragon was soon distracted by a bird and forgot his anger.  
The strange dragon’s eyes opened and it struggled in vain against Hiccup’s grasp. “I don’t know. It apparently can fly, but why did it fly so close to your dragon back on Berk?” The small orange dragon struggled with Hiccup and placed its little forearms onto his leather flight harness. It sniffed at the material and the scale pattern he had layered the leather to look like.  
“I think it likes you.” Astrid observed as the small orange dragon rubbed its head on Hiccup’s leather harness, loosening some of the crude stitching on the layered scales.  
“What doesn’t?” Snotlout muttered bitterly and crossed his arms. The dragon latched its round beak-like jaw on to two of the scales and tore them from the harness.  
“Hey!” Hiccup exclaimed, but the dragon pecked his hand, forcing Hiccup to drop it out of reflex. The dragon launched off the ground with its rabbit-like back feet and started flying like the wind above the tree tops.  
“What do you think that was for?” Astrid asked as they watched the orange dot fly away.  
Snotlout quicly saddled up on Hookfang. “I don’t care, but we can’t just let it get away!”  
“Snotlout’s right.” Hiccup agreed as he mounted Toothless. “It might just lead us to where it came from.”  
The three took off in pursuit of the suspicious orange dragon. It was fast, being a smaller dragon with no passengers, however its wingspan was no match for the speed of a Night Fury. Toothless quickly caught up to the foreign dragon, but lost it once it dove into the trees. They were too close together for Toothless or any of the other dragons to fit through with their bulky bodies and larger wingspans.  
Hiccup tried to hover above the tree line and spot the dragon, but it was no use. It was gone. “Where could it go?” Astrid asked, scanning the pine trees.  
“It will have to show itself again if it leaves the island. Maybe if we split up…” Hiccup began, but Snotlout nudged him. “Not now Snotlout!”  
“Fine, but I was simply going to suggest that you could – I don’t know – start with the strange-looking ships beached on the shore over there?” Snotlout snapped, pointing in the direction of three large unmarked ships.  
“Let’s stay under the cover of the trees until we know what we’re up against.” Hiccup suggested and the others dove into the canopy as quietly as they could. From there, they dismounted and crept up to the tree line hoping to see something that would explain who they were or why they were there.  
The riders could see the dying light of the sunset and the lit lanterns on deck flickering like the stars. Sitting in complete silence, they watched breathlessly for any sign of life. Suddenly, there was a small screech and Hiccup saw as the orange dragon they had been tracking fly through a port hole on the side of the middle ship.  
“The dragon! It just flew onto one of those ships!” Hiccup alerted the others and began to step out from the shelter of the trees.  
“Hiccup!” Astrid hissed and pulled him back out of sight. “Are you crazy? Dragons can’t build or sail ships so there has to be people in there!”  
“They probably have dragons on their ship!” Hiccup reasoned. “They might even be in trouble!”  
“Exactly!” Astrid exclaimed. “If they have entire ships full of dragons then what do you think they’ll do to three more and their riders?”  
“Then I’ll go. Alone. I’ll be stealthy about it.” Hiccup argued. “They’ll never even know I was there.”  
“I’ll go with you! You’ll need someone in case they catch you.” Snotlout volunteered enthusiastically as he brandished his sword.  
Astrid rolled her eyes and shoved Snotlout over. “The object of this mission would not be to get caught in the first place.” She said and crossed her arms threateningly. “And if Hiccup was going to take anyone it would be me. After all, I’m the best at stealth around here.”  
“Hiccup, Snotlout should go back to Berk and tell your father about this.” Astrid suggested. “We don’t know what we’re up against.”  
“The last thing my father wants to hear is that we’ll have to post-pone another Dragon’s Day due to another incident.” Hiccup muttered. “These ships could leave any moment. We don’t have time to send word to my father about something that could easily be a simple misunderstanding.”  
“So we’re going to sneak on a ship over what might be a ‘simple misunderstanding’.” Astrid chided.  
Hiccup groaned and turned to Astrid. “Do you want to involve my dad?”  
There was a silence after this as Astrid seemed to calculate the upsides and downsides that could result in Stoick the Vast showing up. Not many of them good. She sighed, “Fine, but we need a plan.”  
“I think the middle ship is our best shot since the new dragon’s there. Our dragons will have to stay here with Snotlout until we get back.”  
“What if you get captured or killed?” Snotlout interrupted before Hiccup could continue.  
Hiccup rolled his eyes as he and Astrid began to sneak out from the safety of the trees. “If it comes to it, make sure the ships don’t leave with us still on them. Okay?”  
“We’re just going to get on the ship, find out who it belongs to and what they’re doing here, and then we wait for your father to arrive, right?” Astrid laid out as they snuck closer and hid behind a boulder. It was less of a question and more of a veiled threat. Her unwavering stare conveyed that if anything other than what she proposed happened, there might be consequences Hiccup knew all too well.  
“Sounds good.” He agreed hesitantly, knowing in his heart that the moment an opportunity to study that dragon presented itself, he would take it. Astrid seemed to buy it for the time being and Hiccup pointed to the lantern-lit deck. “There are two ropes that we can use to get on deck–“  
“-and enough candle light that we can see, but not enough to take away the advantage of the dark.” Astrid interrupted as if she were the expert. She was more experienced with stealth and combat in general, but Hiccup did not feel it was necessary for her to state something he could have said just as easily. He was, after all, their leader. “It should be easy enough from there to access the entire ship.”  
Hiccup frowned as they both began their path to the ropes. Astrid took the lead as they crept along, only making Hiccup more frustrated. She was acting as if he had never succeeded in any of her stealth training missions. In fact, it was almost as if she was treating him like an amateur.  
As they were climbing up the side of the boat on the ropes, Hiccup noticed something strange about the ship other than its size. “The rudder?” Hiccup muttered to himself as Astrid shushed him, only adding fuel to the flames. However, Hiccup looked back to the part of the ship that looked like a rudder and when they reached the deck Hiccup confirmed the ships had actually been beached backwards.  
Quickly, they ducked behind a few barrels as a shadow with heavy footfalls seemed to draw nearer. The barrels smelled like they contained pickles or eggs or both and Hiccup wrinkled his nose in displeasure. “This must be a pirate ship.” Astrid whispered barely audible over the creaking of the ship and the crashing waves on shore. “I’ve heard they were big.”  
Hiccup was about to mention to her their strange entrance on the shore when she placed a finger over his mouth. He was about to speak anyway until he heard the black form in front of them speak.  
“We’ve stayed here too long enough as is. These fire-breathing dragons might wake up during the sail back to -” A deep male voice informed the figure in front of them. His words were cut short as another figure grasped his throat.  
The figure stepped menacingly closer to the owner of the deep male voice. “I’ll say when we’re done here.” The dark figure – with a surprisingly feminine voice – hissed. “Now, since our most recent scout came back with evidence of a village nearby we’ll have to leave. Our only records of this place state that there are dragon slayers down here. They are of no use to us.”  
“S – so shall I send word to the others?” The deep-voiced man gasped as he steadied himself on his feet. For support, he used the barrel Hiccup was hiding behind. They were so close Hiccup would not have been surprised if they heard his heart beating.  
“Yes, and be quick about it. We’ll need the cover of night as much as we can before we get there. Blasted midnight sun. If it wasn’t necessary, I would have done this before it happened.” The dark female figure muttered as their footsteps faded away. They both seemed to head toward the front of the boat.  
Once Hiccup was sure the two shadowy figures were far out of earshot, he got up and stepped around the barrel cautiously.  
“What are you doing, Hiccup? It’s time to leave!” Astrid hissed and he felt her grab his wrist. “We got what we came for. You promised!”  
Hiccup smiled, although he was not sure she could see it. “I didn’t, actually. I only said your plan sounded good.” He pointed out. “But they said that the dragons are here. They have to be below deck.”  
Dragging Astrid with him, Hiccup followed the path the simple lantern light gave them. “You’re not actually going to go down there, are you?” She whispered angrily. “You could be caught!”  
“Give me a chance!” Hiccup pleaded and then smiled. “I thought you liked danger.”  
Astrid scowled. “This isn’t just dangerous, it’s madness!”  
“Fine.” Hiccup whispered, opening the doors that led to a steep staircase which descended beneath the deck. “You can wait here and stand guard.”  
Astrid huffed indignantly as she refused to follow him down. She waited barely a minute when she began to worry. The blonde viking stood there a moment with her arms crossed, tapping her foot anxiously. There were no sounds of a fight, in fact there were no sounds at all. Her eyes kept darting between the door Hiccup disappeared into and the horizon. “Offspring of Loki…” She cursed and followed him down.  
When Astrid silently closed the hatch behind her, she turned and almost shoved Hiccup to the ground. He was still standing at the bottom of the staircase, stunned in place. Astrid was about to reprimand him for not moving when she saw what kept him frozen in his tracks.  
“Dragons. They meant our dragons.” Hiccup breathed barely above a whisper. “Nadders, Zipplebacks, Gronkles, Nightmares… they’re all here.”  
The dragons were lining the walls in tight cages that barely fit them. Most of them seemed to be asleep, but the rest of them had a dreamy look in their eyes as if they had too much Dragonnip. There were about twelve on the deck and it seemed there was another deck below it. How many more were on this ship?  
“Who are these people?” Astrid asked when she walked up to a Deadly Nadder’s cage and rubbed the scales on one of their heads to try to get a response. She could not help but think about her own dragon. “Why are they taking our dragons?”  
“They won’t.” Hiccup said firmly, looking around for the keys to the cages. Instead, he spotted something better. “Not if I can help it.”  
Astrid turned to Hiccup who had a double-edged axe in his hands and was attempting to pry open the cage doors. The scraping sounds of metal against metal were loud enough to concern Astrid for their safety.  
“Hiccup, are you insane?” She hissed and pulled him away from the door. The additional force Astrid exerted pulling Hiccup away opened the door, however the blue Zippleback inside still did nothing to escape. It was odd enough that both of them forgot what kind of danger they were in.  
“Is it paralyzed?” Hiccup wondered out loud as the dragon seemed to be day dreaming blissfully. He reached out a hand and touched the dragon. Its scales were grittier than usual and when Hiccup pulled back his hand, there was a purple sand-like dust coating his scales.  
Suddenly, there were shouts of angry men below. It would seem the crew bunked on the bottom level and had heard their commotion.  
“There’s nothing we can do.” Astrid told him and practically dragged him up the steps. “Augh! If you had just listened to me -“  
“Well, well, well.” The female voice cooed as Astrid and Hiccup appeared through the trap door that led below deck. Even if they had wanted to retreat back into the lower deck, they could not with the other crew members blocking their way with swords and spears. “It appears that we have some stowaways on my ship.”  
Two large male crew members yanked Hiccup and Astrid up by the backs of their shirts and dropped them in front of the woman. In the moonlight they got their first glimpse of her. In a word, she looked wild. Her hair was a tangled, mess that was pulled into a sloppy strange half-braid down to her mid-back. Like the rest of her crew, she was wearing more leather and furs than any Berkian would wear in the warm summer weather.  
The most note-worthy part of her was a pendant hanging off her neck. It was a red stone polished in a circle with a carved dragon curved into a crescent shape and in the front claws of the dragon there was a large rune. The letter “U”.  
“I’m already late for my own party,” The strange woman told them, crossing her arms with frustration. “So if the answering portion of this conversation could move smoothly, then I might go easy on your punishment.”  
“This is all a misunderstanding.” Hiccup started and Astrid snapped at him not to talk, then muttered about how he never listens.  
“So, you weren’t actually trespassing on my ship?” The woman mocked. “I can see you’re not going to take the easy route with this.”  
“You’ve taken our dragons – “ Hiccup began, but the woman held up a hand to stop him.  
“There was no village on this island or any soul in sight. Since they are wild dragons I would assume they are not actually yours.” The woman reasoned logically. “In fact, since our reports state that there are only dragon slayers this far south, I have to argue that we are saving these dragons.”  
“We’re not – “ Hiccup started, but Astrid elbowed him. Hiccup gritted his teeth, his anger for Astrid making him reply simply out of spite. “We’re dragon trainers.”  
The feral-looking woman cocked an eyebrow. “In my experience, they’re just as bad. Training dragons into dangerous weapons.” The woman turned to the man closest to her. He appeared to be the owner of the deep voice from before. “Grimhorn, chart our course back and make ready to sail.”  
“What are you planning to do with us?” Astrid demanded as a few of the already sparse crew members pulled on some ropes leading ahead of the ship. Something in the water splashed around and the ship lurched forward. Make that a few ‘something’s.  
The woman, with her knee-high brown boots lined with black fur and her matching short black fur cape, gave the two Berkians a mischievous and twisted look. “You should be more concerned as to what I’m getting you into.” The laughter drained from her eyes. “I take no pleasure in killing, even though you have trespassed. I could feed you to the Shlivers…” She indicated to the ropes that strained at the front of the ship, almost as if she was referencing some sort of dragon that was pulling the ship. “…but my plan is far from perfect. I may have need for two such as you.”  
“And what is your plan?” Hiccup asked, feeling the eggshells under his feet as he spoke each word.  
The woman immediately noticed his attempt to pry information from her. “Tie them up and throw them below deck with ‘their’ dragons. If they give you too much trouble…” She tossed them a bag that sounded like it was full of sand. Most likely the same sand found on their unresponsive dragons. “…put them to sleep.” Astrid and Hiccup struggled against their captors, but the two men were too strong.  
As they were being led to the hatch that went to the lower level, Hiccup kicked the man holding him in the shin with his metal foot. He howled in pain, making it easy enough for Hiccup to knock him to the ground with his shoulder. Using the distraction, Astrid stepped on her captor’s foot and when he bent forward in pain, she elbowed him in the face.  
“Okay.” Astrid said as she pulled at her ropes in vain. “Now that we’ve made them angry, what do we do?”  
“There’s a knife in my vest.” Hiccup told her. She quickly pulled it out and began sawing at her roped hands in front of her. “Hurry!” He urged her as she broke out of her bonds and began on Hiccup’s ropes.  
“It would help if you hadn’t gotten us into this mess!” Astrid muttered and Hiccup looked at her with a mix of surprise and incredulity.  
“You can’t seriously be starting this right now.” Hiccup complained once his ropes were cut. They started to run toward the back of the ship as cries of ‘Get them!’ and ‘They’re getting away!’ followed.  
Astrid glared at Hiccup as they made it back to where they first boarded. “You started it when you went below deck after we had already got enough information.”  
“We wouldn’t have known they had our dragons if I hadn’t!” Hiccup snapped and they were both about to slide down their ropes when a blade flew through the air and cut them off.  
“Going somewhere without saying goodbye?” The woman chided complete with cliché tsks and everything. “That’s bad manners for guests.”  
Astrid and Hiccup turned to see her astride a black-and-bright green dragon that had longer forearms than back legs and three vicious-looking horns that climbed up its nose to its forehead. While its wingspan was not very impressive, the two tails it had tipped with broadhead arrow-like barbs did not look at all pleasant.  
“Great. More new dragons.” Astrid groaned and gestured to the dragon. “You were the one that wanted a closer look.”  
Hiccup just growled at Astrid’s choice to be difficult. Quickly, he looked around to try to put together a plan, no matter how flimsy. “Can you call your dragon for backup?”  
“Did someone ask for backup?” A familiar cocky voice asked as a similarly familiar dragon suddenly lit up the deck with its bright fire it covered itself in. The crew members seemed dazzled by the spectacle of a dragon completely on fire. Stormfly had also joined Snotlout and Hookfang to help.  
“Wait, Snotlout!” Hiccup warned. “You can’t light the ship on fire! There are a dozen of defenseless dragons below!”  
Hookfang extinguished his flames and instead beat his large wings to make enough wind that the oddly-dressed crew members stumbled. While they were incapacitated, Astrid jumped on Stormfly. Hiccup reached out a hand and she helped him up.  
“Dragon killers on dragons.” The northern woman muttered and shook her head. “I thought this place felt like Perth.”  
Hiccup swallowed his questions and turned to Snotlout, “We’ve got to distract the dragon rider. She seems to be running the show. If she’s incapacitated, then the ships won’t go anywhere.”  
Astrid lowered Hiccup to the ground where an anxious Toothless was waiting. Hiccup easily slipped his feet into the stirrups and took off as if it was second nature. The moment they were in the air, though, they were being knocked right back down.  
Toothless recovered slower than usual because of the shifting sand they had landed in. However, the woman with a cutlass in her hand and strange dragon were ready to attack. Its two tails flailed around like arrow-tipped whips.  
“We don’t know anything about this dragon, bud, so let’s try to keep some distance between us and those tails.” Hiccup advised Toothless as they kept deploying evasive maneuvers to avoid her dangerous sword and the dragon’s tails. Hiccup reminded himself to scold himself later for not bringing his shield with him.  
“So you even ride a Shadowing.” The woman said with a mix of awe and frustration at the difficulty it was to attack. “You may indeed come in handy.”  
Astrid and Snotlout both tried to get in the fight, but each time the woman turned their attacks against Hiccup. Stormfly’s spine shots almost took off Hiccup’s head and Hookfang’s attempts to knock her down with a gust of wind only resulted in one of the tails almost puncturing Toothless.  
“We have to get in that fight!” Astrid shouted, sounding worried. Toothless and Hiccup played it on the safe side, trying to flee at any chance given, but they were always blocked by this woman and her unavoidable dragon. It was larger than Toothless and faster on the ground. The shifting sand did not seem to both it either.  
“I’m not going anywhere with you! Oof!” Hiccup shouted as he lunged at her, attempting to unseat her from her dragon while she was distracted by the dragon’s tail hitting Hiccup’s metal foot and causing it to recoil in pain. He was unable to knock her off her mount, but as he grabbed for anything, he felt something break off into his hand. The dragon retaliated by knocking him out of his saddle with his tail. The sharp barb on the end cut a small slice on his hand. It was no bigger than a couple of inches, but it definitely stung.  
While he was struggled against the shifting sand to get up, Snotlout and Astrid came to his aide. They managed to force the woman to retreat to her ships which were already a good distance from shore.  
“And that’s how Snotlout and Hookfang do it!” Snotlout cheered as the woman became nothing more than a dot on the horizon and a bad memory.  
“So, Hiccup. What have you learned?” Astrid asked out-of-breath and relieved. Toothless was pretty much supporting all of Hiccup’s weight as he tried to help himself up from the ground. The island and stars spun around him as he collapsed back to the ground. “Hiccup?” 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two: Finding True North

Hiccup started to rustle in his bed, tossing and turning as the effect of the poison caused terrible nightmares. Grey smoke filled his mind as Hiccup thought he saw the outline of a Night Fury. He was playfully running around in the smoke chasing some unknown object. “Toothless?” Hiccup called out and the shadow vanished.  
“Toothless!” Hiccup shouted, sitting bolt upright in his bed as he did. A few quickened heartbeats passed and he looked around. Toothless had been startled from his stone slab bed and padded his way over to Hiccup, his claws clicking on the wooden floor. A comforting familiar sound.  
Hiccup was relieved to pet the surprisingly cool dragon scales as Toothless nudged his rider affectionately. “I had an awful dream.” Hiccup told him and looked at the cut on his hand. It was a simple red mark now with the tender new skin healing over it, but the memory of the moment stung just as much as the poison had.  
Swinging his feet around the side of the bed, Hiccup felt something tangled around his other arm. He looked at the black string wrapped around and pulled at it until the strings could be removed. In his hand was the necklace the woman had been wearing. “I must have grabbed this when I tried to grab her...” Hiccup said mostly to himself, although Toothless made a few sniffling noises as if confirming his suspicions.  
“Hiccup!” Astrid exclaimed when she appeared at the top of the steps. Hiccup barely had time to stand up before she hugged him tightly. “Gothi said – well wrote, but Gobber translated – that it was simply a sleeping poison and would wear off, but you’ve slept all night and all morning. You had us all worried.”  
Hiccup could barely remember what had really happened last night between the fading memories and the echoes of his disturbing dream. “I guess we won’t be rehearsing that sequence again today, huh?” Hiccup joked, cringing slightly as his aching joints revolted at him moving so soon to follow Astrid down the stairs. His head throbbed as he looked around as if his brain could not keep up with the information his eyes were processing.  
“Well, we’ve got something else to worry about now.” Astrid told him and he noticed the rest of the riders of Berk gathered around the fire pit in the main room. Was it too late to go back to bed and pretend to still be recovering?  
The others seemed pleased to see Hiccup awake as well, although they were not so enthusiastic about it. Stoick stopped his pacing near the door and clapped a hand on Hiccup’s back that nearly threw him into the fire. There was a chair near the bottom of the stairs that Hiccup sat down in. He was relieved to find the chairs cold. He felt like he was burning up and his head was beginning to ache.  
Snotlout was leaning against the opposite wall from Hiccup while Fishlegs uncomfortably sat in Stoick’s large wooden chair and was trying his best to ignore the twins who were trying to see who could slurp the loudest from their mugs. “What did I miss?”  
“Astrid was catching me up on what happened on Dragon Island.” Stoick told Hiccup and he knew by his father’s tone that he was not pleased with what he had heard.  
“Did she tell you how I found out they had taken our dragons?” Hiccup suggested, trying to build a case for himself. The look it generated suggested that he had not chosen the right words.  
“And that you called attention to yourselves by attempting to open the cage by force.” Snotlout added, receiving an eye roll from Hiccup for it.  
“And that you didn’t even free the dragon.” Tuffnut supplied between a particularly annoying sipping sound.  
“That was after you left the plaza in disarray.” Stoick pitched in. Hiccup felt the pounding in his head getting stronger. “You didn’t even try to tell me about the ships before you decided to sneak onto them!”  
“Right, because everything is my fault!” Hiccup snapped unable to minimize the pain. The twins stopped slurping, making an awkward silence as everyone’s attention went to Hiccup. “If I hadn’t opened the dragon’s cage, we wouldn’t have known for sure that there was something wrong with them, and if I had called for you, we may have wasted precious time and the ships would have already left, and yes, I’m fine, thank you for asking.”  
“Calm down. We were only – “ Astrid started, but Hiccup interrupted her.  
“Accusing me of making every wrong decision and ignoring the good ones.” Hiccup reprimanded them. “I would like to see what decisions you would make under that kind of pressure.” There was a long pause and the stabbing pain was felt in his hand as well as his head.  
“I’m sorry.” Hiccup apologized and put his uninjured hand on his aching head. “I don’t know what came over me.”  
“It could have been a side effect of the poison.” Fishlegs suggested. “But we’ll never know for sure unless we can find that rider and her dragon which means finding the ships.”  
“You didn’t follow them?” Hiccup asked as his struggling mind pieced together everything Fishlegs had said. Then looked around and remembered all the riders and his father were present. Hiccup felt the anger bubble up again and took a deep breath before demanding, “Why did no one follow them?”  
“We were concerned about you, son.” Stoick answered. “An unknown dragon made you drop like a sack of rocks and we were unsure what had been done. So we took you to Gothi…”  
“…and we weren’t allowed to chase the ships because if what happened to you was serious, it could have happened to any of us and by then we would have been too far away from Berk.” Astrid finished with exasperation as if Stoick had told her the same excuse multiple times to her disliking. “Also because your father said so.”  
“We’ve got dragons. They’re faster than those ships. Let’s go now.” Hiccup said, even though his head was killing him, he had to get out there and get those dragons back. In his heart he believed he was responsible for all of those dragons.  
Fishlegs shook his head. “Even if we left this morning without you, we still wouldn’t have caught up. The ships were harnessed to these unknown Tidal class dragons that could pull it faster than we would have been able to keep up.”  
“So I guess it is all your fault.” Snotlout decided and received glares from everyone but the twins who were bickering between slurps over how to score each one.  
Attempting to ignore Snotlout’s comment, Hiccup turned to his father. “We have to start searching. The sooner the better.”  
Stoick grumbled. “The only thing we know for sure is that they started out going north. From there we can only assume the rest.” He paused when he saw Hiccup’s face droop with sadness and despair. “That’s why we’ve all gathered to see if we can figure out where they went. I won’t allow any search parties without sufficient information.”  
“It would kind of be pointless to celebrate Dragon’s Day without dragons.” Tuffnut mentioned between a long and annoying slurp. It ended abruptly as his mug dried out and Tuffnut attempted to switch his with Ruffnut’s when she was distracted by the Chief pulling out a map.  
Stoick laid the map out on the table near him and they all gathered closer around it. Dragon Island was northeast of Berk and the thieves had landed on the northern shore by the forest. Everyone looked north of the map, but it did not go very far. Not even the edge of another island could be seen. Just a few unmarked blobs.  
“That’s it?” Snotlout asked, gesturing at the top of the map. “We have nothing past Dragon Island?”  
“We didn’t really explore much when we were constantly worried about dragon attacks.” Stoick explained defensively.  
“What about Trader Johann? He’s been everywhere in the Archipelago.” Fishlegs suggested.  
Stoick shook his head. “He’s not due for another month.”  
“We can’t afford to wait that long.” Hiccup muttered, studying the map.  
“What about Bork the Bold?” Astrid piped up. “He seemed to know the most about dragons and travelled more than the average viking.”  
“But he never documented a dragon like the ones we’ve seen today.” Fishlegs informed them. “Believe me, I’ve read them all.”  
As their arguments between Astrid wanting to double check and get a second opinion and Fishlegs believing his knowledge was sound grew, so did the bickering of the twins over the only mug with contents and Snotlout griping about the map and Terrors fighting over leftover bones from breakfast and Stoick groaning about the fact they were getting nowhere.  
“Are you okay?” Astrid asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. Hiccup pulled his hands down from by his throbbing temples and shook his head as if to shake the echoing sounds out of his head.  
“I think my brain knows what it’s like to be a hatching Gronkle egg now.” Hiccup jested, feeling a little more like his old self.  
Astrid smiled, hearing the sarcasm as a sign of improvement. Then she noticed something gripped in his hand. “What is that?”  
Hiccup was confused for a moment at to what she might mean, but looked down in his palm and saw the medallion he had pulled from the rider’s neck. There were two if you counted the indent it made into his skin by squeezing it so hard.  
“I think it’s something I pulled off of the rider.” Hiccup mentioned and placed it on the map.  
“You didn’t think about mentioning this before you had your mental break down?” Snotlout mocked as he picked up the red polished stone with the dragon and symbols on it. “Nice. Shiny.”  
Hiccup was about to snap again at Snotlout, but Stoick snatched the pendant from Snotlout distracting both of them. “It looks like a Night Fury made out of runes.” Stoick told them. “But I’ve never seen it before. Maybe Gothi would know.”  
“Stormfly could get the scent of the rider off it and we could follow that.” Astrid suggested, but Fishlegs shook his head.  
“It’s probably been in Hiccup’s possession too long and only has his scent on it.” Fishlegs argued and Hiccup reached for the pendant that had been passed around and landed in Fishlegs’ hands. “Wait. I think I’ve seen this before.”  
“You have?” Everyone asked in surprise, the twins echoed a moment later, not having been paying attention.  
Fishlegs muttered to himself for a moment. “I’m not entirely sure.” He told the others. “I’ll have to check.”  
“So we may have a lead after all.” Stoick sighed. “While Fishlegs is figuring that out, I’m sure you all know what you need to do.”  
“Take a nap?” Snotlout suggested hopefully.  
“Blow things up?” Ruffnut asked.  
“Blow things up again?” Tuffnut added.  
“No!” Stoick groaned and shook his head. “Clean up the mess you made yesterday in the plaza. Gobber is running the repairs so ask him what needs to get done.”  
All of the riders groaned and left the house. As Hiccup followed them, if only to get some fresh air, his father stopped him. “We need to talk.”  
“Again? I thought we already had the responsibility talk when you gave me the permission to plan Dragon’s Day.” Hiccup said, but his half-joking manner only seemed to make his father’s eyebrows crease more in anger.  
“Apparently it didn’t get through.” Stoick said. “You promised that if I allowed you to create an official celebration for Dragon’s Day, that you would see it through to the end. No side adventures. No alternate plans. No dangerous infiltrations of unknown ships.”  
“I don’t believe the last one was mentioned.” Hiccup muttered and then flinched from his father’s expression.  
“It was implied.” Stoick growled. “We were going to plan this together, but it looks like another one of your adventures is going to delay it again.”  
“But the dragons are what make us Berk now!” Hiccup argued and rubbed Toothless affectionately when he nudged him to bother him for their daily flight.  
“Son, we can always get more dragons.” Stoick insisted. “There are hundreds of islands out there that probably have more dragons –“  
“And what if they’re not?” Hiccup asked, his voice low and serious. “What if Toothless isn’t the only one who becomes the last of their kind?”  
● ● ●  
Hiccup had quickly left his house, his father unable to stop him. The village looked sad under a heavy cloudy sky. It was grey and depressing unlike what it had been before Hiccup and Astrid had left to go find Snotlout.  
There were damaged carts being fixed and slightly-damaged vegetables being moved in baskets. Others were repairing the side of a house and some were stitching together a torn banner.  
“I can’t find Stinkbottom anywhere!” One distraught viking said to another viking.  
“Is that your wife?” The other viking asked and was promptly shoved.  
“No, you oaf! It’s my dragon!” The distraught viking corrected him.  
“Nice to see someone decided to get out of bed and help with repairs.” Gobber teased as Hiccup walked in from a quick flight around the island, clearing his head. Toothless followed Hiccup to his work table where he sat and watched. In his large bulk, he blocked Gobber’s path to the forge and when Toothless tried to move out of the way, he knocked over a barrel with assorted weapons in it and his tail smacked into some scrap metal, sending it flying.  
Toothless quickly jumped out of the workshop, bumping into things and scattering tools and other objects all over the floor as he left. Hiccup helped Gobber set some things right as Toothless tried to wait patiently outside. “I remember when Toothless could fly around in here with ease and you were barely up to my chin.” Gobber reminisced. “Those were the days.”  
“Yeah, I miss constant dragon attacks and being the social outcast.” Hiccup said sarcastically as he put the fallen tools back on the workbench by the forge. Gobber paused hammering what seemed to be a hinge for a door and looked back at Hiccup.  
“You were never a social outcast, Hiccup.” Gobber told him as he changed his left hand from a hammer to his trusty hook after he dropped the hinge into the bucket of water. “You were just different in a way many of us didn’t understand. Where we decided to lop off heads and ask questions later, you did the unthinkable and actually figured out what was going on and found a way to stop it.”  
Hiccup stopped hammering nails into a new plank of wood on a broken bucket, and turned to Gobber. “That’s just it. I had to prove myself. I had to defeat the Red Death before anyone believed that vikings with dragons was better than vikings against dragons.”  
“We all make mistakes, Hiccup.” Gobber declared. “You’re father has been trying to make it up to you for three years. Every year Dragon’s Day comes around he wants you to think of it as his apology. To you and to the dragons.”  
“I can’t help but wonder,” Hiccup sighed. “What if I never shot down Toothless? What if it hadn’t injured his tail? What if the saddle never worked?”  
“That’s a dangerous kind of thinking, Hiccup.” Gobber warned him and shook his hook at him. “The past is something you learn to accept. You can’t change it and I don’t see why you would want to!”  
“I just always feel like I have to prove myself to him.” Hiccup told Gobber as Astrid entered in with an empty bucket. “The dragons saw in me what I would have never found on my own. I feel like I owe them. I have to protect them.”  
“Ah! Look at what the dragon dragged in!” Gobber cheered, glad to have a distraction for Hiccup. “Nice to see both of you together. Especially since you’re both usually off flying around and getting into trouble.”  
“We don’t – I mean, excluding yesterday –“ Hiccup started and then thought about it. The implication Gobber also added did not go unnoticed. Gobber just smiled like a giddy viking girl with her first hatchling as he turned and went out of his way to pound some useless scrap metal as loud as possible. Hiccup sighed, “What do you need?”  
Astrid raised the empty bucket she was holding. “We need more nails at Hornwort’s stall. It apparently got smashed into splinters by Hookfang’s tail.” Astrid told him and he passed her the box of assorted nails that was next to his workstation.  
“Anything else?” Hiccup asked as Gobber finished hammering the now-flat piece of metal and instead began to whistle a horrible tune obnoxiously loud.  
Astrid put the box down and crossed her arms. “For being one of the smartest vikings, you really are quite dense.” She teased. “I came to see how you were doing.”  
“I’m fine.” Hiccup shrugged.  
“Why am I not inclined to believe that?” Astrid said.  
Hiccup groaned and put his hammer down. “My dad still doesn’t understand the importance of dragons in our lives. I mean - Look how quickly the village changed after they had left! I don’t understand why he won’t just let us search.”  
“I didn’t ask about your father.” Astrid corrected him and placed a hand gently on Hiccup’s face. His skin was hot to the touch, but that could easily have been explained by his close proximity to the forge. “You just got cut by an unknown dragon that left you unconscious for half a day. I was wondering how you were doing.”  
“I feel better.” Hiccup assured her with a smile and flexed his hand where he had been stung. The sharp pain was distant and the headaches were ebbing away. “Thanks.”  
Astrid smiled. “That’s good to hear.” She started picking out nails and placing them in the empty bucket. She paused for a moment before looking up at Hiccup. “She was right, you know. The rider woman.”  
Hiccup looked at Astrid, confused as to where she was going with this. “Right about what?”  
“Those dragons on Dragon Island,” Astrid elaborated. “They weren’t our dragons. You can’t be expected to protect every wild dragon. Yeah, some of the Berk dragons went missing as well, but they’re not your responsibility.”  
“Then should we wait for that rider to come back and take all of ours?” Hiccup asked. “I can’t risk that.”  
“You don’t have to, Hiccup.” Astrid reminded him. “If she comes back to Berk, she’s going to have to deal with all of us.”  
Hiccup smiled at the attempt to cheer him up. “You say that like six dragon riders who can’t execute the simple Dragon’s Day Spectacle will have a chance of working together to stop riders on our own fire-breathing dragons?”  
Astrid was about to make a curt remark when Fishlegs barged in.  
“Hiccup!” Fishlegs shouted, running into the workshop and shoving the table over with his bulk. Astrid almost spilled the nails on the floor as the table rocked and she was nearly pressed into Hiccup by Fishlegs’s large mass.  
“What is it Fishlegs?” Hiccup asked as he escorted him out of the workshop so Gobber did not have to walk around them to get to his materials. Astrid followed, obviously interested.  
Fishlegs opened a well-worn leather-bound book to the page his thumb had been placed to keep. “This.” He stated and showed Hiccup that it had the same symbol as the pendant. The passage was old and faded, but Hiccup could still read most of it. “It’s the Book of Legends. I traded it from Trader Johann a while ago, but he didn’t mention that some of it was in a different language. Lucky for us, this passage isn’t.”  
“’The Guardians of the Skies’?” Hiccup read and looked at the text. Most of it useless without the missing words. “All it says here is that they’re northern dragon riders on some island called, Perth…”  
Fishlegs held up a finger as if to stop Hiccup. “Turn the page.”  
Hiccup did as he was instructed and saw there were more complete sentences and a picture of, “A map!” Hiccup exclaimed. The map did not stretch all the way south to Berk, but it seemed there was a chance.  
“You see that partial sketch of an island there?” Fishlegs pointed out. “I’d bet my helmet that it’s the peninsula where the Silent Marshes are.”  
Hiccup thought about it and grinned. “I’ll go show this to my dad.”  
“We should go with you.” Astrid suggested, but Hiccup shook his head at the offer.  
“I have a few things to tell him before I can show him this.” Hiccup told her. She understood, but waited for Fishlegs to leave before she leaned closer to Hiccup.  
“Promise me that you won’t do anything… reckless if he says no.” Astrid pleaded.  
“Reckless like attempting to take revenge on a potentially dangerous dragon to avenge a disgraced uncle?” Hiccup asked hypothetically alluding to the Flightmare. Astrid punched him lightly on the arm as they both laughed. “He won’t say no.”  
It was not the answer Astrid was looking for, it might even have been the exact opposite. She squeezed his hand thoughtfully as he pulled away toward his house.  
● ● ●  
Night was falling as Hiccup entered his house. His father was sitting in his usual chair by the fire, sifting through the ashes and embers with his sword point. He looked up as Toothless and Hiccup came through the door.  
“Son. I need to be honest with you.” Stoick said and Hiccup decided to sit down, knowing they might be there a while. Stoick sighed. “You won’t be going to the north. Any of you.”  
“But dad –“ Hiccup argued, about to pull out the book Fishlegs had given him with map and tidbits of information.  
“No, Hiccup. Hear me out,” Stoick implored. “The north is savage. The winds alone will swallow you whole and spit you out. If you survive that, you would suffer at the hands of the intense cold. If there really are dragon riders to the north that should only add to the ferocity of the land.”  
“They have our dragons, dad!” Hiccup reminded him. “What will they do to them? We can’t just sit around hoping that they’ll return or that they’ll be fine!”  
“They won’t return, Hiccup.” Stoick assured him and heaved a heavy sigh. “I’m trying to protect you. What if there are hundreds of dragons like the one that stung you? You would never last!”  
Hiccup frowned. “What a great vote of confidence, dad.” He muttered and got up from the table. “What if we had a map to their location? What if we had everything we needed, all the information and facts about these G – riders?” Hiccup asked, almost telling his father more than he wanted to.  
“No.” Stoick said without hesitation. “You’re needed here, as are the other riders. Putting them at risk by taking them with you on this dangerous mission is wrong.” He paused as he saw the color drain from Hiccup’s face. “I will not authorize any rescue parties to the north.”  
“So we’re just going to leave them there? Some of them are villager’s dragons!” Hiccup declared. “They may be just dragons to you, dad, but they’re my responsibility. I forged the peace between vikings and dragons and I let those riders take our friends, our allies. The dragons helped us against the Red Death, why can’t we help them?”  
“It’s suicide to go out there without knowing what you’re up against, Hiccup!” Stoick yelled, getting up from his chair.  
“I understand you want to protect me.” Hiccup said and backed up from the table. “But someone has to protect them. They trusted me.”  
“Hiccup…” Stoick started, but his son had already turned and left out the door with Toothless hot on his heels. The door slammed shut behind the duo. “Hiccup!”  
Stoick sighed, tears forming in his eyes. “I can lose you too.”  
● ● ●  
Hiccup silently went in through the hatch in the roof in his room meant for Toothless and loaded his satchel with his notebook and charcoal for pencils and other supplies he thought he would need.  
Then, they took off and landed near the back of Gobber’s shop. Hiccup waited and listened to make sure it was deserted before entering and searching around in the back room where his old plans still were. Mostly he did his work around the desk in his room and only came to the workshop when he needed to do something with the forge or Gobber’s endless tools.  
There were spare connecting rods and tails that he was looking for, tucked away in a basket by the chair. He glanced at the old sketches and remembered when his father had entered in this small closet of a work station to give him a gift and tell him how proud he was. Of course, it was all misguided, but the gesture was not easily forgotten.  
As Hiccup was leaving he heard something making noise in the forge. He froze and peeked around the corner only to see Toothless accidentally knocking over a bucket full of bolts and nuts. He looked up sheepishly and tried to back out of the workshop, knocking over the same barrel of weapons as before.  
Hiccup grinned as he helped lead the clumsy Night Fury out. “Looks like Gobber was right. You are getting bigger.”  
Toothless growled at Hiccup and he held his hands up in his defense. “That was not a fat joke, I promise.”  
His dragon still glared at him suspiciously as he got into the saddle. “We just need some provisions and my shield. I think I left it in the Academy.”  
After gathering a few provisions at the food storage building, he and Toothless swiftly went down to the Academy. It was just becoming dark and Hiccup was aiming to grab his shield and fly.  
Hiccup noted the sleeping Hideous Zippleback and the sound asleep Monstrous Nightmare. Hiccup frowned at the empty cage for Stormfly. Since it was so late, Hiccup reasoned that Astrid must have taken her home.  
The Gronkle-iron shield was in the far corner of the arena where Hiccup had left it after running a few exercises with the crossbow which would enable them to paint higher, out-of-reach places. It was easily attached to Toothless’s saddle and they were just about to leave when a slim figure approached with a dragon through the gates.  
Hiccup and Toothless dashed into the shadowy corner of an empty cage, hoping the red tailfin and saddle on his pitch black body would not give them away.  
It was Astrid. She and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly looked around as if they had heard something. Hiccup tried to stay as perfectly still as they could while Astrid said goodnight to her dragon. For a moment, Hiccup had a thought to catch up with her and ask her to join him, but his father was right about something. To ask the others to risk their lives for dragons that were not their responsibility was wrong.  
Hiccup waited a couple heartbeats after she left before coming out of their hiding spot. Stormfly, not yet asleep, was startled at their presence, but they were no strangers. All Hiccup had to do was hold a finger to his mouth and the dragon replied by resting its head back down.  
As they left the arena, Hiccup patted himself down, running through a check list in his mind. “Do I have everything?” It seemed everything was in order and so Hiccup took off, unknowingly leaving the red pendant behind on the stone floor. By using the light of the moon to illuminate the map every now and then, Hiccup made his way to the Silent Marshes. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three: The Calm before the Storm

Just as the sun was peeking up over the east, Stoick stumbled into Gobber’s shop. The one-foot and one-hand man was whistling away as he stoked the fires to begin another busy day of preparation since they had finished the repairs yesterday. If you could count on anything, besides a viking’s appetite, it would be their ability to get something rebuilt quickly.  
“Thank your stars, Gobber, that you didn’t have children.” Stoick muttered as he sat down on the work bench stool. It creaked under his weight, but Stoick ignored it, his mind elsewhere.  
“I can’t say that I’m not relieved myself, but some days I wished I had someone to take over the stall for me when I… retire.” Gobber reasoned. “Hiccup’s the only one I’ve apprenticed, but he’s already destined to be chief. As you’ve proven many times over, it’s a time consuming job.”  
Stoick sighed. “He can’t sit still! I was hoping that planning this Dragon’s Day celebration we’d work together and be a team for once but now...” He got up and began to pace. “…now he wants to leave while we were so close to completion! A mad quest to protect the wild dragons. I understand why he wants to do it, he’s the one who created this era of peace with dragons and vikings, but who’s going to protect him?”  
“Ah, the teenage years.” Gobber reminisced blissfully with a nostalgic look in his eyes. “We weren’t so different, eh? Getting into all manners of trouble, running off into the woods on pointless boar hunts just to get away from the village… The truth is, he does have someone. Quite a few someones actually.”  
Stoick stopped pacing and gave him a questioning glance. “He has his friends!” Gobber revealed. “When we went dragon tracking, we watched each other’s backs. We were stupid and reckless and completely disregarded your father’s orders when he told us to stay in the village, but we went anyway.”  
“So I should let him go?” Stoick asked, dearly needing advice from his old friend. “The north is savage and I couldn’t bear it if I lost him.”  
“It’s no boar hunt or dragon tracking expedition, but he needs to know you trust him. That you believe that he would do the right thing.” Gobber advised his old friend. “Not to mention he has Toothless. Have you seen that dragon’s fire power?”  
Before Stoick could comment, Astrid ran into Gobber’s shop. Instead of greeting Gobber, however, she went straight for Stoick. “Have you seen Hiccup?” She asked, trying to sound casual, but Stoick could detect the worry hidden underneath.  
“No. I thought he was with you at the Academy or out for a morning flight with Toothless.” Stoick told her, beginning to reflect her worry. “We didn’t actually part easily last night.”  
Astrid shook her head. “The rest of us are searching the island, but we haven’t found him anywhere. His shield is missing from the arena and no one has seen him all morning. He didn’t show up for practice at sunrise like he said he would.”  
“I found some Night Fury tracks in here this morning and a few things were knocked over.” Gobber reported. “But I only assumed Hiccup had come down for some last-minute repairs or a simple project he needed tools for.”  
“Did you check his work bench?” Astrid asked and when Gobber replied with a shake of his head, she ran into the room and came back looking angry. “His spare tail and connecting rod are gone. It looks like he expected trouble.”  
“Impossible!” Stoick exclaimed to Astrid while the other riders landed outside the blacksmith shop. “He left the house and never came back in! He would have left all of his things behind!”  
Fishlegs gasped and covered his mouth. “He has the map and my Book of Legends!”  
“Is there a book on everything?” Ruffnut asked.  
“Is there a Book of Death?” Tuffnut inquired with large hopeful eyes on Fishlegs who just muttered pitifully about how he had not finished reading it.  
“He probably went through the window in the ceiling for Toothless and just snuck out that way.” Astrid suggested. “That’s how I would have done it.”  
“I would have heard him!” Stoick insisted.  
Fishlegs shook his heads. “I checked his room. His notebook, satchel, and some of the Bork papers are gone.”  
Stoick growled, but reached for Astrid as she was ready to mount up. “You can’t just fly into uncharted northern waters blindly! He’ll come home when he realizes what a fool’s errand it is.” The last bit seemed a bit hopeful.  
The others did not seem so ready to give up. “We have to try. We’ll need something that recently has his scent on it.” Astrid said.  
No one seemed to have any suggestions other than to find something in his room, but when Astrid’s eyes fell on Snotlout, she noticed him trying to tie something around his neck. “What are you doing, Snotlout?”  
He puffed out his chest with the red stone pendant on it and winked. “Red looks good on me, doesn’t it?”  
Astrid yanked it off his neck and held it up to Stormfly. She sniffed at it and then sniffed the air a few times. After a moment, she screeched as if to let her rider know the scent was not strong enough to follow with the changing winds.  
“It was worth a shot.” Stoick said and shrugged, silently relieved.  
“Wait!” Fishlegs ordered. “If we get to the Silent Marshes, Hiccup’s scent should be stronger there. I know a short cut.”  
Astrid nodded. “Good enough for me. Let’s grab some supplies and head out.”  
“I would tell you that it’s too dangerous, but I have a feeling you would ignore me.” Stoick mused and grasped Astrid’s hand. “Bring him back.”  
“If I don’t kill him first.” Astrid assured him and nudged her Nadder into the air.  
● ● ●  
After hours of flying, Hiccup and Toothless landed on a sea stack to rest. The sun had been up for a while, but its heat did not help much against the freezing northern cold.  
Toothless melted a patch of snow and laid down on the steaming stone beneath. Hiccup sat next to him, using Toothless’s body to block the wind and airborne flecks of ice as he pulled out the book. The map for the Guardians of the Skies was faded from age and Hiccup traced the path he and Toothless had flow with his finger.  
Sadly, the map in the book did not label the sea stacks or those less significant islands they had passed. “We flew past the Silent Marshes a while ago.” Hiccup noted. “So why haven’t I seen this island? The book doesn’t say much except that it’s small and relatively out of the way.”  
Toothless grumbled his response and shuffling his legs closer to his body to contain his body heat more. Hiccup frowned at his friend and looked back to the map.  
“We are not lost.” Hiccup insisted and then muttered as he looked over the map for what felt like the hundredth time, “Everything just happens to look the same.”  
Hiccup’s dragon friend nuzzled his arm with its head in an attempt to keep him warm. “I’m fine, bud, but thanks.” He lied, trying to hide his chattering teeth.  
Hiccup rummaged around in his satchel, looking for something. “Fishlegs, do you have the compass?” He asked and looked up, remembering he was alone. “Right.” He mumbled. “If I had Fishlegs I wouldn’t be lost.”  
Toothless growled as if to agree and Hiccup smirked at him. “Well, if you knew this would happen. Why didn’t you speak up earlier?”  
Toothless gave Hiccup a dragon’s equivalent of a frustrated glare and snorted his hot breath on the boy. Hiccup returned the look, folded the map up again, and placed it inside his leather riding vest. “North should be that way.” He said and pointed while Toothless moaned his complaints about having to leave after just warming up the stones. “So let’s go.”  
Hiccup was about to climb into Toothless’s saddle when the Night Fury’s head shot up and his ears swiveled as if trying to pinpoint a certain sound. “What is it, bud?” Hiccup asked tentatively as he fit his feet into the stirrups while Toothless tensed his muscles and prepared for flight.  
Then he saw it. A pale green dragon with a rather impressive wingspan disappear behind a glacier. Hiccup did not have to say a word as Toothless shot after the mysterious dragon. The green dragon was thin and short in length, which aided it in speed, plus it also had a wingspan almost the same length as Toothless’s making it stay just out of sight before it turned another corner.  
“How have we not caught up yet?” Hiccup wondered, barely managing to glimpse the flat, spear-tip like end of its tail as it took complicated turns through the fog and mountainous area. Mountains? Hiccup realized that he had been watching the dragon and not necessarily where they were going. “Hold up, Toothless.”  
The Night Fury slowed, allowing the green dragon to agonizingly far out of sight. All around the pair of dragon and rider were mountains, mist, and snow. The line of pine trees blended in with the wintery landscape since they were covered with as much snow as the sea up north was with ice. Hiccup was beginning to see the futility of this mission. Not only was he completely lost now, but his valiant efforts to ignore the cold did not make it go away.  
Hiccup nudged his flying friend forward as they followed after the elusive dragon. They turned sharply around the mountainside after it, but this time could not see it ahead of them. “Down there, bud!” Hiccup revealed when he noticed the long neck of the pale green dragon dipped into a mountain spring.  
They landed softly in an attempt not to frighten the dragon away. It continued to drink, seemingly unaware of the Night Fury and its rider examining it with curiosity. It had two heads similar to those of a Zippleback, but they separated at the top of the neck, not all the way at the base. It was not as toothy and sharp as the southern dragons Hiccup knew. In fact, the more he looked, the more gentle and feminine the dragon seemed to be.  
Toothless went to take a drink from the water, but retreated and growled. He knew something was off. “What is it?” Hiccup asked as the pale dragon seemed to notice them for the first time, one head followed Hiccup and the other scanned the agitated Toothless. Then Hiccup saw it. The saddle on the dragon.  
Hiccup backed up slowly and was about to reach out and mount Toothless when he felt the cool steel of a dagger at his throat. “Don’t move. I have very good reflexes.” A male voice threatened Hiccup as he pulled the dagger away and began tying up Hiccup’s wrists behind his back.  
Nearby, Hiccup heard Toothless’s moans and groans as he imagined they were muzzled him. The man who placed the dagger’s tip at Hiccup’s back turned him to two others restraining Toothless. “Please, don’t hurt him.” Hiccup pleaded.  
“As if you haven’t done enough already.” A red-painted northerner chided as she grasped the artificial half of Toothless’s tail. They were all wearing mask-like scarves and each face had a different color of paint. “Let’s take them both back to the Keep before this storm hits.”  
● ● ●  
A storm swirled around the five riders and their dragons. The snow and ice clawed at their skin as if there were sinister dragons in the whirlwind grasping at their flesh. The wind was pushing them back farther than they managed to keep ahead.  
“Astrid!” Fishlegs called out, barely able to keep up with the others as they battled against the storm. “We need to land! If we keep trying to fly through this storm, we could end up anywhere!”  
Astrid shook her head through her shivering and attempted to guide Stormfly above the cloud. “We just need to get above it!”  
Just as the group began to adjust to follow Astrid’s lead, Hookfang’s large wingspan caught the wind at just the right angle causing them to fill up like two large sails. “Incoming!” Snotlout shouted as his dragon flew backward into the other riders, forcing them into an uncontrolled descent.  
“Look out!” Astrid exclaimed as they dropped out of the snow storm and nearly rammed into a glacier. As they fell from the sky, desperately trying to get their bearings, one ship below noted their presence. This was not a large cargo ship like the ones that had made off with the dragons they were searching for, but smaller as if it was a vessel meant for speed and easy navigation.  
“Commander!” One of the men on the deck of the ship called out and pointed. A burly man with dark brown hair, broad shoulders, and a gut that had seen many a feast followed the crew man’s finger until he laid his eyes on the four dragons with their riders.  
“To your stations, men!” He shouted, his voice loud enough to reach the descending riders on the edge of the storm. Crew members of both genders and builds ran to the edge of the ship armed with crossbows modified to shoot nets. They were also dressed in an excess of furs and leathers like those on the ships that had stolen their dragons. “Captain! What do you see?”  
The only member of the crew not running excitedly about on deck was standing on the upper deck with a crude spyglass to his eye. It aided only a little in helping him see farther, but it was better than what his only two eyes could see. “We’ve got four dragons and five riders, Spineshot.” The Captain replied, not lowering the spyglass until he solved what was bugging him most about these particular dragons. After all, they have not seen dragons around in a while. “These look like southern fire-breathers, sir! We should prepare accordingly.”  
“You heard Captain Galestrom!” Commander Spineshot bellowed. “We’ll need to douse their heads before they come on deck!”  
The Captain lowered the glass and slid down the bannister to join the Commander and the crew. In contrast, the Captain was shorter, but more muscular. His armor was tight on his arms and torso from the bulk of muscle beneath. Unlike the rest of the crew and Commander, he wore less furs as if her were more used to the cold than the others. He had sharp grey eyes and shoulder-length red-brown hair in which half was pulled back into a ponytail to keep it from his eyes as the storm raged on.  
The Berk riders in the sky did not notice the men aiming weapons at them until it was too late. Nets narrowly missed all four dragons while others collided mid-air. The Commander took aim and fired, launching a bolas that collided with Barf and Belch’s legs.  
“Ah! We’re going down!” Tuffnut shouted, the humor that usually outlined his voice was gone.  
Both riders tried to pull their dragon up, but the weights on the bolas and the panic induced made it impossible for them to avoid the ship. The moment they landed on deck, a section of the crew not shooting nets and bolas at the riders were busy tying up the twins and dousing both Hideous Zippleback heads just to be sure.  
“We need to get the twins out of there!” Astrid told Snotlout and Fishlegs.  
“I hope you have a plan to go with that rallying war cry.” Snotlout suggested as he struggled trying to maneuver the biggest dragon out of the three left in the sky. “Because right now I would simply love to set the whole thing on fire.”  
Fishlegs’s dragon, Meatlug, continued to slowly hover the way she always does while Fishlegs attempting to predict where the next net would appear from. “We should just get out of range!”  
“And leave the twins behind?” Astrid snapped. The storm seemed to be moving toward them as she tried to think of a way out. Back into the storm and leave the twins behind or attack the ships. “No. Our best shot right now is to attack the ship. We’re four dragon riders from Berk! We’re dealt with worse.”  
“Not without Hiccup!” Fishlegs complained ducking under a swinging bolas that nearly wrapped around his entire body.  
Astrid ground her teeth and Snotlout got between the bickering riders. “Hiccup’s not here right now, Fishface.” He concluded. “Let’s blow this ship to pieces and get the twins. In that order.”  
“Who put you in charge?” Astrid exclaimed. “If anything the two of you are going to distract the crew while I get the twins out of there.”  
“And how do you suppose we do that?” Snotlout bickered, crossing his arms and then remembering the wave after wave of projectiles heading there way.  
Astrid shook her head and scoffed as she flew away. “If you’re so clever, why don’t you figure it out?”  
Snotlout and Fishlegs hovered there for a moment as Stormfly and her stubborn rider disappeared among the floating ice and glaciers around the attacking ship. “I say we head down there, unleash every bit of fire power we have at them until they cry like little babies. Great plan, Snotlout! I know, let’s go!”  
Fishlegs barely uttered a single whimper before Snotlout dropped toward the unknown ship marked with a strange shadow of a dragon’s head and a net-like design. Meatlug and her nervous rider followed tentatively as Snotlout pulled on Hookfang’s horns to unleash his fire power.  
It would have been a decent enough plan had Hookfang actually produced any fire. The men were ready with their bolas and nets and Snotlout did not have an escape plan when he needed to abort the mission in case Hookfang was too cold to produce any flames. He and his dragon soon became tangled in so much rope that he could have rigged the entire ship he was on with it.  
Fishlegs, having been more cautious, flew away the moment nets started flying. That was not good enough. In fact, the bolas hit him while he was over the water and he began to plummet toward the icy cold surface.  
Once Astrid swooped down from above, thinking the commotion was from Snotlout and Fishlegs’s distraction, the Captain and Commander were waiting for her. Stormfly was trickier to subdue than the others, but once its rider was restrained and ample amounts of ice water applied, the dragon surrendered.  
“Great plan, Astrid.” Tuffnut congratulated with more sincerity than they were used to.  
“Yeah.” Ruffnut agreed. “I liked the part where you acted all sneaky-like getting on the ship.”  
Tuffnut laughed. “I guess the plan was to give Fishlegs enough time to escape and go get help. Right?”  
His hopes were dashed when the crew pulled the shivering Fishlegs and Meatlug out of the icy depths. They were too cold to move, let alone resist their attackers.  
Snotlout laughed too, his however sounded forced and sarcastic. “Yeah, if we had a plan!”  
“Three dragons and four riders.” The Commander noted as he walked up to the four tied up against the railing. In the background the crew members were soaking Hookfang and Stormfly faster than the exhausted and cold dragons could produce sparks.  
“Congratulations, you can count.” Astrid remarked snidely, not in the mood at all to have a pleasant conversation with any of them.  
Commander Spineshot laughed the kind of round laugh one hears a particularly well-fed man bellow after a good joke. “Captain, take them below deck. We’ll keep their dragons exposed to the wind and cold. It seems to work in favor with us.”  
The Captain nodded and gestured to two other crew members. They yanked the four off the deck and shoved them in the direction of a hatch that went below. “You had no right to shoot us down from the sky!” Astrid yelled, infuriated, cold and miserable. The image of her dragon being covered in icy cold water burned in the back of her mind. “This is all a misunderstanding.”  
“Don’t be shy to tell the Council exactly that at your hearing for breaking the most important law.” Galestrom told her as he pulled the struggling blonde viking girl after him toward the hatch. “You might even want to add, ‘It’s not even my dragon!’. They love a good joke as much as the next person.”  
Astrid refused to budge which delayed the others from going down the hatch as well. “We’re from the south! The Island of Berk! We had no knowledge of your laws!”  
Galestrom snarled. “And I’m sure pirate victims also cry they had no idea they were in unsafe waters. Makes no difference now.”  
“Kinda does a service as well.” One of the other crew members mentioned, passing close behind the group of southern riders. “Less dragons and their ignorant riders left to harm the Crescent Isle. Training their dragons into weapons to take out entire villages.”  
“That’s enough, Pigskin.” Galestrom said. “They will get their deserved punishment.” Tuffnut snorted at Pigskin’s remark. “Find something funny, rider?”  
Tuffnut immediately clammed up, but could not contain the steady stream of snickers. “We were led to believe that there was an actual group of, you know, dragon riders in these parts.”  
Galestrom’s face fell, almost saddened. He looked up at the rest of the crew, almost nervously. “Hasn’t been that way for eight years. Of course, there are a few groups of radicals; the rebels, the Valkyries… they all have their own little names to separate their traitorous acts from the others as if there’s are less reckless, but no. You will soon find that associating with dragons is against the law this far north in the waters of the Crescent Island. Dragons are better left out of sight and out of mind. Things were better off before they crawled out of whatever hole it was.”  
“That’s impossible.” Astrid muttered, gaining the attention of the Captain again. “We have proof one of the so-called ‘Guardians of the Skies’ came and stole our dragons.”  
The Captain held out a hand as Astrid fished the medallion out of the pouch on her belt. She was reluctant to let it go, but if she did not he would not believe them. Astrid let the glossy red stone fall into his hand and watched as his suspicious features turned into a shocked surprise.  
“Vex.” He whispered and then gripped it tight. The crew was now cleaning up the mess the dragons and riders had made on the ship and the Commander was near the stern of the ship, studying the dragons he caught. “Where did you get this?”  
Astrid was not expecting this response and fumbled her words. “I – I told you. This dragon rider stole our dragons. She mentioned something about ‘Perth’ and something about a midnight sun, but nothing really helpful.”  
Captain Galestrom’s fingers wrapped around the pendant and he looked thoughtfully at the sky. “Commander!” Galestrom called out. The portly man made surprisingly good time in getting over to where the riders stood. “It seems they are in need of directions to get back south.”  
Once the Captain winked at them, they shook their heads vigorously. “It was all a mistake, we’ll head back as soon as possible.” Astrid exclaimed, every word a lie. She was not leaving the north while Hiccup remained out there. Who knows how many other ships like this existed, roaming waters he may have come across.  
The Commander gave the Captain a tired, frustrated look. “We would simply be releasing their dragons outside the map’s corners anyway. If these riders return to their island and swear never to return and mark our territory to pass along knowledge of our laws, I see no downside.”  
“Except the fact we’d be letting dangerous vikings back out into the free air.” The Commander rebuffed and crossed his arms, making his excess of fat bulge even more. “They could go back to their village and bring an army back to convert us or some such nonsense.”  
Astrid hid a smile, knGoowing that would be Hiccup’s exact course of action minus the army. “We promise to leave you and your waters alone.”  
Spineshot looked back to the Captain. They shared a second of silent debate and then the Commander sighed. “Release them.”  
The Berk rider’s ropes were cut before they even had a chance to chafe. The Captain then repeated the order for their dragons. The riders had to keep them from attacking the crew as they realized their restrictions were removed.  
The Captain walked up to Astrid on Stormfly, being careful to keep away from the dragon’s head and tail. He seemed knowledgeable, just not comfortable around the Deadly Nadder. Galestrom handed Astrid the medallion she almost forgotten she was using to track Hiccup.  
“If the waters are more ice than ocean, you’re in our land.” Galestrom paused, still gripping the pendant as he handed it to Astrid. “And you only get this opportunity once.”  
Astrid nodded and then took off with the others. Of course, Astrid began by heading south, but when they were out of view of the ships, she allowed Stormfly to guide them.  
“I hope you have a good reason for doing that, Captain. That was our best catch yet.” The Commander threatened in a low tone.  
The Captain picked up one of the loose scales that had fallen off of Stormfly in her struggle against the ropes. “Follow them.” He tossed the scale to one of the crew members. “Bring the Blatherskite from below deck. They track dragon scents better than they do human.” 

The three now-unmasked captors looked down at Hiccup. They had brought him through these large double doors into the mountain he had landed on. Inside was a grand hall that had a ceiling higher than the Great Hall back on Berk. However, Hiccup was not sure that it extended the entire way to the top since instead of ending at a point, the roof curved.  
Lining the edge of the circular hall was a feeding trough that sloped from the floor level to almost human height to accommodate all dragon sizes for maximum eating comfort. The northerners took pity on Toothless and allowed him to eat and drink his fill while Hiccup was tortured with the smell of hot fish stew. The aroma emanated from the large stew pot over the fireplace that sat in the middle similarly to that of the Great Hall.  
Hiccup noted other strange unknown dragons that he assumed matched up with their similarly painted riders. When they had brought Hiccup into this large, dimly-lit room, they had met up with another northerner. She had fussed about the stew pot and seemed overly nervous. “You really should wait for Mercy.”  
“Yeah, well, Mercy wouldn’t let me do this,” A broad-shouldered and very muscular northerner with black-painted stripes across his face emphasized by drawing a short, awful-looking blade. “Now would she?”  
“Heatbane!” The blonde girl squealed. “We’re not savages! Put that down!”  
The red-painted girl from before stepped in between the strong Heatbane and the gentle blonde northerner. “Let him go, Ember. It’s the fastest way to get the information we need.”  
“If we’re choosing sides,” Hiccup said, looking from the blade to Toothless who was preoccupied stuffing his stomach and washing it down. He made a note to teach Toothless the definition of the word ‘friend’. “I’m with her.”  
“Yeah. Let’s not use the dagger.” A scrawny boy who hung from ropes that dangled from the rafters agreed.  
Hiccup sighed with relief. “Thank you.”  
“We should roast him over the fire!” The yellow-painted hanging northerner suggested with glee. As he came into the relief of the fire’s light, Hiccup noticed he wore a worn leather eye patch over his right eye. “That’ll get him to talk!”  
“Nice one, Longarm.” The red-painted girl congratulated and grinned. “I knew we were related for some reason.”  
The black-painted northerner sheathed his dagger, but placed a foot on the stool Hiccup was propped up on. Slowly he pushed the scared southerner toward the large fire behind him. “Heatbane, I swear if you knock over my soup pot, you will make your own dinner for the next two weeks.” Ember complained as Hiccup felt the heat of the fire on his back.  
“Now, rider.” Heatbane began sinisterly. “Where is it you come from?”  
“Heatbane! Let him go.” A voice in the doorway suddenly ordered. The stocky warrior backed away from Hiccup and sighed with frustration. Hiccup leaned over to see behind the brute and witness his savior.  
She was barely five feet tall and had a shock of pale red hair braided back into a bun on her head. Her face was painted with blue dots, but Hiccup never noticed a blue-painted dragon. “We don’t have time for games. Four dragons are on their way with an Enforcer hunting ship following closely behind. They’re heading straight for Perth. In a few moments they’ll be through the fog and once the Enforcers follow through, they’ll see us.”  
“They could be tracking him.” Longarm pointed out, dropping from the rafters and landing on one of the tables with barely a sound. “A rebel deserter, maybe?”  
Ruby just shook her head. “Or anyone who simply wants his Shadowing and also flies dragons.”  
The girl, named Mercy or at least that is what Hiccup assumed, came closer to the firelight and he saw something around her neck quickly reflect the light. It was another red pendant only this one with the Nordic rune “Kano”. Hiccup’s breath caught in his throat. This was them.  
“Are you the Guardians?” Hiccup asked, interrupting their hushed plans. It quickly fell to silence, but not one of annoyance that he broke their flow of conversation. One that came after mentioning something painful.  
Longarm tried to hide a snicker, but Hiccup disregarded it because he seemed like the person who would find the humor in anything. Mercy grasped at her pendant with a frown and quickly turned it into a suspicious look. “No. What do you know about the Guardians… southerner?”  
“How could you tell?” Hiccup asked.  
Mercy shrugged. “The clothes, the hair, the attitude…” She muttered and folded her arms. “You still haven’t answered my question.”  
“A woman with a similar pendant to yours stole our dragons from our island only it said ‘Uruz’…” Hiccup frowned. “I have it with me. In my saddlebag.”  
Ruby picked up the saddlebags they had relieved Toothless of and proceeded to unceremoniously dump the contents onto one of the tables. After a moment of shuffling through thawing fish, charcoal stubs, and notebook pages, Ruby came up with nothing. “He’s lying and he knows too much about us already! How could a southerner know about the Guardians? Uruz? The Valkyries?”  
Hiccup cocked his head, confused. “The Valkyries? Like the viking shield maidens that take souls to Valhalla?”  
“You’ll be seeing them soon enough.” Longarm grinned, seeming more playful than sadistic. As if he knew how all of this was one big misunderstanding and he wanted to milk it for all it was worth.  
“That’s not true.” Ember corrected. “He would have to die in battle, not tied to a chair.”  
“We could always…” Longarm began, but Heatbane waved his comment away.  
“We still have the problem that those riders are leading an Enforcer ship right to our door.” Heatbane mentioned. “Once they reach past the Cluster Caves, we won’t have long before they realize where the riders are heading.”  
The dark-haired orange-painted man who entered with Mercy shook his head. “They’re getting closer each minute. If they get past the fog, they’ll see the Keep.”  
“So?” Hiccup asked and the others just glared and ignored his comment.  
Mercy frowned. “If we damage the ship enough, they’ll have to return to Crescent Island.” She then turned to Hiccup. “I have no idea what to do with him and the other rebels heading our way.”  
“Leave that to Longarm and me.” Heatbane suggested. “Take the others, kick some butt. We can handle four dragons and their riders.”  
The red-haired girl bit her lip. “I’ll leave Ember too. Someone has to babysit and make sure you two don’t actually destroy the Keep.”  
“I can help!” Hiccup suggested, struggling against his ropes. “Toothless and I are a great team.”  
“I doubt that.” Ruby muttered.  
“You really showed us when you had the chance.” Longarm mocked.  
“Toothless?” Ember teased and tried to suppress a laugh. The others looked at the Night Fury currently rubbing its scales on the stones surrounding the fire to scratch where it could not reach and just overall in a happy mood to be warm again.  
Mercy began walking away toward the large double doors she and the dark-haired rider had entered. There was a tall blue orange-painted dragon waiting for them. “No. We don’t want to take the chance that Enforcers could get their hands on a Shadowing and even if we were to take you with us –“  
“Which we wouldn’t.” Heatbane added.  
“- you would probably just get in the way. And guys,” Mercy said, addressing the three she was leaving behind. “keep him in one piece.”  
As the large double doors shut behind Ruby, Mercy, and Fin with the blue orange-painted dragon and the short brown red-painted dragon, Longarm grinned a malicious mischievous look. “Do we still have the Blatherskite spit?”

 

Chapter Four: Cold Wars

“Alright men.” Captain Galestrom announced. “I want Mucus and Pigskin on the deck. Everyone else it’s time to turn in. Keep alert.”  
The crew filed down below deck to their hammocks while the two unfortunate crew members had to stay on deck. “I heard its nothin’ but mountains swarmin’ with dragons.” Some of the crew muttered worriedly. “I heard the island is shrouded in fog so thick that you run aground helplessly.”  
As the rumors intensified when they blew out their candles, so did the strangeness of the gossip. “I even heard from a man that said the dragons are protected by savages that cook their enemies to feed their beasts.”  
Captain Galestrom walked into his quarters. It was a simple room under the upper deck that housed two hammocks in the far corners and a desk with maps and journals covering it in the middle. The Commander was bent over the table, looking at the map.  
“Have you heard of the Island of Perth?” Spineshot asked, motioning to the table. Galestrom leaned against the opposite wall, frustrated with the Commanders presence. He was not sure yet whether Spineshot was there to annoy him or simply as a courtesy visit to see if their best dragon-trapping vessel lived up to its gleaming example.  
“My mother was a Guardian, of course I know of Perth.” Galestrom said, piquing the Commander’s interest. “Not that anyone remembers where it lies. The Council had it destroyed.”  
“I am surprised you’re fighting on our side, Captain Galestrom.” The Commander mentioned and then straightened out. “Wait, wasn’t your mother Foxfire Svanhild?”  
Galestrom nodded solemnly, trying to hide the pain in his eyes. “The one who killed Sting and ended the Uprising eight years ago.”  
Spineshot shook his head and smiled. “Your station must have been laid out for you.”  
“Is there a reason why you asked about Perth?” Galestrom asked curtly, noting the subtlety of the insult. His mother’s reputation as a hero did get him far in the ranks of the Enforcers, but he would not have become Captain if his skills were lacking.  
The Commander moved and revealed the map he had laid out on top. It was mainly focused on the islands off the shore of Crescent Island. Galestrom reluctantly walked over and looked at the map. There were “X”s and “O”s marked around all of the islands, some over the seas.  
A large mass of “O”s covered the area around the island labeled with the rune for ‘Perth’. “So there have been a lot of dragon sightings there, I understand. Are we to believe that there’s a rebel force there? Using the rubble of an old mountain-side fort? Or maybe the Council did make short work of it and there’s absolutely nothing left.”  
“We don’t know that for sure, Captain.” Spineshot scolded. “In fact, we had a scouting party invade Perth a good while back. It was a simple mission to make sure everything was good and gone. Three ships had been sent with twenty good Enforcers, but two life boats came back with the whole crew and none said a sane word about what happened.”  
Galestrom ran a hand through his reddish-brown hair with slight nervousness, recalling what the blonde southern viking had said. If the Guardians were back than Perth must have been revived. And what’s worse is that Vex was involved. “So that’s where you think our rebels were headed?”  
“We have more sightings there than even Nauthiz. Reports came in saying there was a rebel fort of some sort on that forsaken island, but I think it’s simply a decoy. A distraction to keep us thinking they’re an unorganized bunch of dragon riders while they build an army.”  
“An army?” Galestrom scoffed. “You give these rebels too much credit. They want peace restored and will fight the occasional Enforcer ships, but you’re insinuating that they have a target in mind, that they’re capable of collaboration. Most of them don’t even care about the dragons, they just want to remove the power of the Council. They have no structure and want no leader.”  
The Commander placed a letter on the map. Galestrom picked it up and began to read, his eyes darting from each charcoal rune to the next.  
“We got that message yesterday from Captain Shortsnout.” Commander Spineshot told him as the Captain reread the letter with disbelief. “She assures me that her information is accurate.”  
Galestrom put the letter back down. “Who would be able to command the rebels? And we’re quite certain they’re gathering at Nauthiz?”  
Spineshot nodded. “More dragons and riders and rebel warriors have been spotted around there than when they had that camp down in Kano.”  
Galestrom looked at the map again. “If they’re drawing their troops to Nauthiz, why are we focused on Perth?”  
“Like I said,” The Commander mentioned. “It’s a distraction.”  
“I still don’t believe the rebels are capable of such intelligent planning.” Galestrom disagreed insistently. The medallion did not necessarily mean that Vex had taken shelter in the Guardian’s Keep at Perth, but if the riders spoke the truth about her stealing dragons… it could surmount to be more of a problem than his position alone could handle. “Whoever thinks they’re controlling the rebels is probably at Nauthiz and drawing their troops there to accumulate their power for one attack. It would be too risky to spread their numbers between two islands so apart.”  
“They have dragons. They can fly that expanse of sea in half the time it would take our fastest ship.” Commander Spineshot argued.  
Captain Galestrom shook his head. “They know the seas aren’t safe, especially during the week of Midnight Sun.”  
“Then I guess we’ll expect to see dragons flocking from Nauthiz on Sundown Day.” The Commander assured Galestrom as he took off his boots and placed his bulk into his fur-lined hammock.  
“I’ll be on deck.” The Captain informed his superior. The information sending his mind reeling, making fresh air a good start to figuring it out. “Something doesn’t sit well with me about this island.”  
“Suit yourself.” Spineshot shrugged and blew out the candle near his hammock. The sun still shone through the cracks in the wood enough for Galestrom to be able to see his way out.  
The air outside was as warm as a northern afternoon. Mucus, a short stocky viking with bushy eyebrows bigger than his beard, and Pigskin, a taller but just as fat viking with graying black hair, looked up from their duties. Pigskin was making sure the lines were tight and secure while Mucus was holding the rudder on a steady course.  
Captain Galestrom walked up the few steep steps to the upper deck and motioned to Mucus. “I’ll take the helm, we’ll need more eyes on the horizon.” There was a small blue dragon tied up near the top deck by the rudder. It had the scale at its feet and pointed them in the direction of Berk riders.  
Mucus nodded to Galestrom’s satisfaction. At least there were a few crew members on board still loyal to him who trusted his orders without getting a second opinion from the Commander.  
The Captain leaned against the railing, keeping a steady hand on the rudder control. His thoughts were elsewhere as he looked at the cloudy blue sky. If someone had control over the rebels and any other unsatisfied viking with a weapon, then the Commander had a right to be nervous. Everyone did.  
“Nice day isn’t it?” A voice asked. Galestrom turned and saw the pale red hair and the sarcastic smile hanging off the railing and kicking her feet like a child. Everything about her reminded him of the old times, the good times, except for the blue paint that her dotted cheek bones and up her forehead.  
“What are you doing here?” The Captain hissed as she climbed aboard. She was silent enough that he was not so much worried someone would hear her rather than see her.  
“Straight to the point. No nonsense.” Mercy muttered gesturing to her brother and putting on a mock militant expression and demeanor. “If you didn’t look so much like my brother, I would think you were just another soldier with an axe to grind against dragons.”  
Galestrom shook his head with incredulity. “All this time… for two years you have been going behind my back to – what? – train dragons? Fly them? Make them your little pets?”  
“We protect them from you and your pitiful friends.” Mercy corrected. “What was Boarfrost thinking when he made the ban? That he was protecting dragons? If you have seen what I have, you would not be able to tolerate holding your title.”  
“Wait, hold on, ‘we’?” Galestrom groaned. “How many more of you are there? Odin’s only eye, Mercy! We’re heading straight for your little rebel fan club on Perth and I can’t stop it.”  
Mercy frowned. “We’re more than a fan club and we’re definitely not rebels.”  
“Valkyries… right. Just like mom and dad’s little group of dragon equalists back in the old days. Is that why you came here?” Gale asked. “To tell me that I’m wrong and you’re right? You’re seventeen now, don’t you tire of this?”  
“I came here to warn you.” Mercy answered, her playful voice dropping into a darker tone. “About Vex. She’s gone rogue… or rebel I guess.”  
Captain Galestrom sighed angrily, but he had already had his suspicions. “I told you. I warned you when you started poking through those dragon books and getting all ‘vigilante’ that it was going to be your undoing.” He reprimanded. “What does Vex have to gain? Her father was one of the Guardians, wasn’t he? Doesn’t she know better than to stir up trouble with those petty criminals?”  
“She’s bringing them together, using their numbers as their strength. I don’t know what she has in mind, but it can’t be good.” Mercy informed her brother.  
Galestrom closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I became an Enforcer because I knew no viking could ever ride a dragon and not use it as a weapon. Sting may have been the first one to do so on a large scale, but we can’t be trusted. We all have greed for power. Take Spineshot for instance. He’s moments away from getting the Council to agree to allow Enforcers to kill dragons -“  
“No!” Mercy exclaimed and then covered her mouth. She ducked down for a moment just in case the two crew members on the lower deck heard it. “The ban was made to protect dragons from vikings! Boarfrost cannot allow that! He was a Guardian once too, and a Valkyrie at that!”  
Galestrom shook his head. “Spineshot has Uruz, Jera, and Teiwaz eating out of his hands. Without Kano and Nauthiz, that’s half the Council. I’m afraid Boarfrost’s hands are tied. Spineshot has made dragons into something of a fearsome creature. People want us to kill them now.”  
“Not much of a difference to what you’re doing already.” Mercy muttered. “You take them from their homes and leave them somewhere where you think they won’t cross paths with vikings again. I get it. We’re bad people. But they don’t have the food they need or the companionship of their species when you do that. You’re killing them even though you think you’re doing something right.”  
Mercy’s brother was about to argue his point when something bumped into the boat, slamming both of them into the railing. “What was that?” He asked and looked about. Even though it was clear daylight, Galestrom had to squint to see the swirling waters surrounding the ship.  
“Vortex!” Mucus shouted with Pigskin echoing. “Everybody on your feet, we have a Vortex!”  
“That’s my signal to go.” Mercy told the Captain and swung herself over the edge of the ship. She almost slipped when a nasty wave slammed into the ship broadside.  
The Captain turned, not wanting to take his eyes off his sister again, but she had already clambered down the back of the ship. “What’s going on down there?” Galestrom shouted to the panicked crew. The ship was being rocked now by more than just waves.  
“We’ve got a nasty Chirk!” Mucus replied as he and the flustered crew tried to get their capturing equipment ready. The small brown dragon Ruby had been riding had hedgehog-like spikes extended and was tearing through the sides off the hull and through the sails faster than the men could reload their net shooters.  
Galestrom turned to his slowly descending sister. “Mercy. You need to stay out of whatever is coming… The Enforcers are stronger than we’ve let on, please let us handle Vex and the rebels.” He paused and bit his lip before continuing. “I promised mom I would look after you.”  
“I would say the exact same to you, but I didn’t promise mom anything.” Mercy then dropped down to the short walkway outside the Captain’s cabin as the Commander appeared on the upper deck with Galestrom.  
Acting quickly, the Captain turned to his crew. “Get our ship pointed out of this whirlpool or we’re all heading to see Rán!”  
The Commander held onto the railing as the waves beat mercilessly against the ship. The current forming around the ship was becoming more noticeable as it got stronger and stronger. “We need to get both of those dragons under control now. Do we still have a heading?”  
Galestrom turned back around and noticed the blue Blatherskite dragon that had been tied up was gone. The scale in order to track them was also missing. “Mercy.” Galestrom groaned, but could not help but feel a twinge of pride.  
“Come on, Ruby!” Mercy shouted, flat on her stomach barely fitting on the Blatherskite. The red-painted masked rider jumped out of the Captain’s quarters with a satchel full of their maps and journals and reports.  
Her dragon caught her mid-air and joined both Mercy and the soaked Fin as they made their way in the opposite direction of the ship.


End file.
